Two Greek weightlifters fail doping tests

ATHENS (AFP) - Two Greek lifters participating at the Pescara Mediterranean Games have tested positive for unspecified banned substances, the Greek weightlifting federation said on Wednesday. Both athletes failed a June 1 test while the other, identified as a female athlete, had also failed a May 14 test, the federation said. The federation did not name the athletes pending tests on their second fluids sample, but Greek press reports identified them as Nikos Kourtidis and Constantina Lapou, who have respectively won two gold and a silver medal in Pescara. One of Greece's most flourishing sports for over a decade, Greek weightlifting has been devastated by doping incidents in the past year. A mass doping outbreak months before the Beijing 2008 Olympics saw eleven lifters excluded from the Games after they tested positive for the banned steroid methyltrienolone. National coach Christos Iakovou, the architect of Greece's long-term success in the sport, resigned in disgrace and a drastically reduced Greek squad failed to win a single medal in the competition Iakovou, the athletes and another 13 people have been charged over the case in a trial that is ongoing. The Greek weightlifting federation in April banned for two years two other weightlifters who were found positive in an anti-doping control last year.